Gunsmith Floats

[swagman]

Attached are images of some Gunsmith Floats I picked up 6 months ago.

They are real early, Blacksmith made ones.

I better get round to making up some new handles.

swagman.

 

[Philly]

Cool! Have you tried sharpening them yet, Stewie?
Cheers
Philly

 

[swagman]

Cool! Have you tried sharpening them yet, Stewie?
Cheers
Philly

Hi Philly.

Not yet. Been too busy with other projects.

Will make a concerted effort in the next month. This will include turning up some handles, fitting the ferrules, and re-sharpening.

Thanks again.


swagman.

 

[Ironballs]

What exactly will you use these for? Never come across them before

Cheers

Damian

 

[swagman]

What exactly will you use these for? Never come across them before

Cheers

Damian

Hi Damian.

Traditionally, these type floats were used to rasp out the channel on a rifle stock, so the barrel could be fitted. Commonly referred to as "barrel inletting".


Nowadays, more modern type tools are now used to duplicate this same process.


To come across these Gunsmith - purpose built floats, in a collection of different sizes is quite a rare find.

I will restore these to a usable condition, then make a decision on whether to keep them.


swagman.

 

[Ironballs]

I see, very nice. Would be good to see someone carve a gunstock on here

 

[DeanN]

There are some interesting DIY stocks on the airgunbbs forum - I've included a couple of example links below. These guys are passionate about their airguns, and it shows in the workmanship on many of these stocks.
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/showthr ... stom+stock
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/showthr ... stom+stock

 

[swagman]

I see, very nice. Would be good to see someone carve a gunstock on here

All of the floats have a tpi of 8 1/2 , except the largest of the floats pictured, which has a tpi of 6 1/2.

The floats have a rip tooth configuration. (leading edge is vertical).

If you have used a planemakers float, these would cut in a similar, aggressive nature.

Only 2 of the floats have been stamped. "IH"

I would assume this would most likely be the previous owner.


swagman.

 

[dunbarhamlin]

They look fab.
Been using some LN floats recently - super tools, especially in hard and/or amorphous stuff e.g. Spanish Cedar, Cherry, Walnut or Ebony. Find them trickier in stringy stuff.

 

[swagman]

They look fab.
Been using some LN floats recently - super tools, especially in hard and/or amorphous stuff e.g. Spanish Cedar, Cherry, Walnut or Ebony. Find them trickier in stringy stuff.

Hi dunbarhamlin.

On a different subject.

Have you ever used Huon Pine.

Its such a pleasure to work with.


swagman.

 

[dunbarhamlin]

Hi dunbarhamlin.
On a different subject.
Have you ever used Huon Pine.
Its such a pleasure to work with.

Hi swagman
No, just blackwood from your part of the world.
Cheers
Steve

 

[swagman]

Hi dunbarhamlin.
On a different subject.
Have you ever used Huon Pine.
Its such a pleasure to work with.

Hi swagman
No, just blackwood from your part of the world.
Cheers
Steve

Hi Steve.

Blackwood can be a difficult grain to work with.

swagman.

 

[TrimTheKing]

:shock: OMFG! That rifle stock on that link is absolutely awesome!!!

Mark

 

[PaulO]

They look fab.
Been using some LN floats recently - super tools, especially in hard and/or amorphous stuff e.g. Spanish Cedar, Cherry, Walnut or Ebony. Find them trickier in stringy stuff.

On a different subject, where do you get your Spanish cedar from?

 

[Digit]

I wondered how they did that. I was given a .38 calibre shot gun that had had the stock cut to fit a leprechaun and made a Monte Carlo stock for it. I had to groove the stock for the barrel and receiver by hand using chisels and dowel wrapped with glass paper.
Never again!

Roy.

 

[dunbarhamlin]

On a different subject, where do you get your Spanish cedar from?

Last time was from Rivolta in Italy. Bit of a mixed bag, though. Some good QS and some rift.

 

[swagman]

I wondered how they did that. I was given a .38 calibre shot gun that had had the stock cut to fit a leprechaun and made a Monte Carlo stock for it. I had to groove the stock for the barrel and receiver by hand using chisels and dowel wrapped with glass paper.
Never again!

Roy.

Hi Roy.

Have being doing some online research to barrel inletting on rifle stocks.


Historically it would seem, there were varied methods and tooling used , to make the channel.

The cross sectional profile of the barrel was not always the same shape either.

They had what was termed a "swamp barrel" for example, which was six sided, requiring the bottom of the channel to be flat from the center line, then "Veed" off at an angle, each side of the flat.


To shape the channel, some Gunsmiths used a two step process.

Ist step was to flat bottom the channel down to under 1/2 the diam. of the barrel.

The next was the more critical stage. This was done with a different tool to round off this flat bottom channel.

The barrel was then slid back and forth within the channel, and a marking solution would highlight any remaining high spots.


Other Gunsmiths preferred to use a rounding tool from start to finish.


The tooling used to form the channel was extremely diverse.

They included spooning tools, floats, rasps(round & flat), chisels, gouges, and scrapers.


I Hope you find this information of some interest.


swagman.

 

[Digit]

Gunsmithing is illegal in the UK, (surprise surprise) but before my wife started to worry about guns I had a nice little collection of sporting guns.
About that time the police were deciding that gun owners were a menace to society and I was given all sorts of odds and ends, but due to the atmosphere towards guns here I had very little info to go on.
I remember making a spring for an old hammered gun, the first one broke, second one was too soft, third time correct.
The artistry that went into sporting guns was fantastic.

Roy.

 

[DeanN]

Gunsmithing is illegal in the UK,

Roy.

HI, What makes you say that, as there are a number of gunsmiths around the UK ?.

 

[Digit]

Private gunsmithing I should have said. Any repairs etc should be carried out by a licensed gunsmith, not private individuals.

Roy.